Chapter 4 : No Love Lost

My heart jumped into my throat, and I felt so devastated. In all of my eighteen years, this was the first time my father had ever put his hands on me. What compounded the pain and shock was that he did this in front of Arlene. His physical, visceral reaction had been to punish me in front of his stepdaughter, and of course, that sealed their relationship.

He was my only blood parent left, and he had just turned against me. I covered my cheek, dropping my mouth open in shock, feeling tears collect in the corners of my eyes.

"D-Dad?" I asked, as if he was a stranger. In a way, he was. This was not the father I had known most of my life. Instead of responding in any way, he ignored me, walking over to comfort Arlene.

"Are you alright, honey?" my father asked her. My chin was wobbling as I forced back sobs while watching him console her. The feeling of betrayal was so cutting, like a deep trench in my soul. The longer he pretended I wasn’t there, the more butchered I felt.

Of course, on cue, Arlene stepped in with her saccharine voice and pretended to be on my side.

"Don't blame Juliana, Alpha Anderson. She was justifiably upset, and it’s my fault. She wouldn't normally do this."

I glared at her. Why couldn’t she leave well enough alone? If not for my feelings of bewilderment at my father, I might have actually gone after her, but I was more hurt than incensed. I had to know how this panned out. What was he going to do?

"I disagree. This is completely unacceptable. I know you two don't always get along but now she's hitting you? I won't stand for this. I'm tired of her making things worse for everyone."

"Dad, what are you saying?"

"I’m saying you're the reason for all our problems, Juliana. Don't you see how you always manage to stir things up? Everything becomes more complicated as soon as you're involved. I just want an easy day for once."

I stared at everyone in the room as I realized there was nothing ambiguous about it. My father officially turned against me. His feelings of resentment must have been building up, and now that he'd seen me supposedly strike his innocent stepdaughter on purpose, he was through with me. Still, I had to hear it from him.

"What are you really saying? Talk to me.” I demanded from him, feeling my heart racing with panic as I stepped closer. He was speaking as if I was a chronic illness he'd had to deal with for years, like a tumor he needed to remove. When he turned to me, the flat expression on his face broke my heart.

"Need I spell it out for you?" he asked rhetorically. "It's simple, Juliana. All you had to do was just give up the acceptance to Moonlight College peacefully and let your stepsister have a chance, but no, you wouldn't. Instead, you went out, and–” he paused, sniffed the air around me, wrinkling his nose in disgust, then said, "Got drunk as a skunk, didn't answer anyone's calls, and now we have a family emergency. None of this would have happened if not for you."

I felt like I was suddenly on another planet. The two men I loved most stood beside Arlene with fierce loyalty that I had only just now become aware of.

"Guys, what's going on? It seems like you're about to disown me," I said with a nervous laugh, two rivulets of tears falling from my eyes as I stared at my father and Carl. Their faces looked strange to me as they switched between fawning over Arlene and glowering at me.

It hit like a punch to the gut when I realized they didn't care about me. Arlene had won them both over, and I could do nothing about it. Pleading my case was no longer an option. It was obvious to me that I was cut out of the family.

These people didn't love me, and as that realization sunk in, I wanted to drop to my knees and cry, but I refused. Instead, I turned around and began ascending the stairs. There was a loud ringing in my ears that briefly drowned everything out. After a few seconds of staring blankly at the stairs, I realized my father was shouting at me.

"Get up to your room and think about what you've done!"

I scoffed. He was yelling at me like I was a child. Maybe his shouts were to the child I was when I was eight years old, before Mom died. Perhaps he was stuck there, yelling at ghosts of the past, but I refused to be who he took his anger out on anymore. I'd been in my own pain for years, and I wasn't going to waste one more second of hurting trying to attain the love of someone who wasn’t capable.

I spent hours in my room gathering up what I needed. It took all night of me planning and packing everything as quietly as I could, but by the time the morning light was peeking over the horizon, I was ready to leave. My bags were filled with as many clothes as I could manage, along with a tiny bit of cash and my ID.

My eyes fell upon the Moonlight College packet that I'd been mailed. It was resting on the bed I would never sleep in again. I touched the edge of the folder.

Tucking the packet under my arm and picking up my bags, I left the house I had called home all my life. I reflected as I left the front door, as the pain eroded my heart.

My father, ex-boyfriend, and stepsister had taken my hopes of being a real family one day. Even a pack of rogues had killed my mother. Repeatedly, I’d been hurt and parts of me stolen, but I'd be damned if I let anyone take my dreams away.

While walking down the street, my adrenaline from sneaking out soon diminished, and I felt nervous. As I was beginning to feel overwhelmed, I felt the edge of the Moonlight College packet scrape my bare skin. It was like it was trying to remind me not to lose my cool.

Whenever I was afraid or upset in the past, I thought about my goals, so I focused on my future education once more. Taking out the packet, I traced the emblem with my fingertips. It was the crest of the Moonlight Pack. I'd never been there, but I'd heard plenty about them.

For most of my life, it was well-known that the Moonlight Pack was the most prolific, powerful pack in the wolf world. The alpha was only known as "Alpha King" most of the time, and it was no wonder. He was the most influential, prominent leader in all our packs.

From what I had heard and subsequently come to believe, his power came from his ice-cold ruthlessness and little regard for individuals. Even though I strove to attend the college under his name, I vowed to avoid him. Someone like that was too evil for me to be close to, but I didn’t need to fret about it. More than likely, he'd never condescend to mingle with us common folks, even if I was attending his college.

I snapped out of my thoughts of Moonlight Pack when I heard a twig snap. If I had my wolf, I was certain I'd feel less afraid, and as much as I wanted to be strong, I wasn't sure how long I could continue without some help.

Eventually, my suitcase felt a little too heavy, not to mention my heart. Although my spirit wanted me to carry on alone, my body was saying otherwise so when I saw a coach nearby, I hailed it down.

"Where are you headed?" the driver asked me.

"I'm going to Moonlight College."

"That means you have to go to the Moonlight Pack."

I swallowed hard imagining the tyrannical Alpha King there once more, but soon brushed those fears aside. The chances of me running into him were slim to nil. As I relaxed into my seat, I wondered if he looked as evil as he was inside.

I bet he was ugly.

“Yes, that's right," I finally answered. “I guess I am.”

There were a few other people in the coach with me. We made small talk, but I wasn't sure how much I wanted to reveal to them. Soon, however, I realized it went both ways. They seemed fine with keeping their identities to themselves, too. Maybe we all were sneaking off from somewhere we no longer belonged.

The journey was arduous, and I had difficulty staying awake. At this point, I'd been going on no sleep for over twenty-four hours. My body was aching from not eating or drinking enough after such a bad hangover the day before. I planned to get some sustenance as soon as we stopped.

With the dream of some warm food and drink on my mind and the gentle rocking on the seat with the rhythm of the coach, I found myself beginning to drift off. We were about to enter the forest just as my heavy lids shut.

I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, but I was on immediate alert when I felt an enormous bang and jolting in my body. Blinking rapidly, I threw my hands out for balance on the seat as I tried to gain my bearings. My heart was pounding as I felt the immense impact again.

At first, I wasn't sure where I was, but I soon remembered everything that had led to right now and where I was going. As my mind caught up, unfortunately, it wasn't in time for me to prepare myself for another slam to the coach.

As it was hit, we all rocked involuntarily, letting out yelps of fear.

"What's going on?" one man asked nervously, holding his glasses to his face to see better outside. Another hit took us, and the glass windows shattered.

"We're being attacked!" one woman shouted, grabbing her purse and bailing out the door. Just as she jumped, I could see a wolf pounce on her. Gasping in terror as more wolves joined in, the coach was attacked one final time, overturning it. Who were these people, and what did they want?

We all spilled out onto the side of the road, the vehicle crunching in several places. Gawking at everything happening, I saw that the woman was right about this being a concerted attack. Wolves were picking the other passengers off left and right.

Was I next in line to be filleted? I couldn't let that happen without at least trying to save myself, but I was too afraid to leave the coach. Frantically, I tried to see what had triggered this group into such an aggressive assault. From what I could tell, there was no rhyme or reason.

Money and valuables were all over the ground, but these perpetrators didn't seem interested. If this wasn't a robbery, what was this about?

Almost too afraid to move, I forced myself to snap out of it, staring at the nearby bushes. The screams and sounds of agony that my fellow passengers were shouting made my veins fill with ice. I had to do something now.